The new Ford contract covers 41,000 U.S. workers.
Despite widespread dissatisfaction with the contract’s terms among union members, the United Auto Workers has officially declared the new pact with the Ford Motor Co ratified.
The results of voting released by the union showed 63%, or 22,031, union members in favor of the agreement, while 37%, or 12,957, opposed the contract. Last month, union members had approved a new four -year agreement with General Motors.
Voting, meanwhile, is just getting underway on the new Chrysler settlement – which observers believe will likely be impacted by the approval of the Ford contract.
“This agreement is proof that, by working together with our UAW partners and local communities, we can significantly create new jobs, invest in our plants and people, and make a very positive impact on the U.S. economy,” said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company’s president of The Americas. “Our agreement is fair to our employees and it improves our competitiveness in the U.S.”
Ford executives had also said a new contract was essential to the company’s efforts to obtain an investment grade credit rating.
Ford is adding 12,000 hourly jobs in its U.S. manufacturing facilities through the four-year term of the contract, including in-sourcing work from Mexico, China and Japan. The company also is investing $16 billion in its U.S. product development and manufacturing operations – including $6.2 billion in plant-specific investments – by 2015.
“As the nation’s economy remains stalled and uncertain and its employment rate stagnates, we were able to win an agreement with Ford that will bring auto manufacturing jobs back to the United States from China, Mexico and Japan,” said UAW President Bob King.
As part of the new contract, Ford has agreed to create 5,750 – which brings to more than 12,000 the total new jobs including those previously announced by the company. Many of these jobs will be added by the end of 2012, and all will be created during the term of the new contract.
Overall, the UAW and the domestic automakers have announced a total of 20,000 direct manufacturing jobs including the creation of 6,400 jobs at GM and 2,100 at Chrysler.
“I am pleased with the strong support for this agreement from UAW Ford members. I believe UAW Ford workers understood the importance of each and every vote,” said UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles, who directs the union’s Ford Department.
“Working people in this country are clearly frustrated about the inequity in our society. Our members at Ford are frustrated with the economy, the lack of wage increases over the years, outrageous executive compensation and the immorality of Wall Street,” said Settles.
Ratification of the contract was finally assured over the weekend when workers from UAW Local 600 at Ford’s Rouge manufacturing complex in Dearborn and a big Ford assembly plant in Kansas City approved the contract, reversing a string of no votes that had left the contract teetering on the edge of rejection.
Prior to the weekend votes, Settles, the UAW’s top negotiator at Ford, had warned rejection of the contract could lead to a strike against the automaker when it appeared the contract was heading for defeat.
“It is still my opinion that very few Ford workers were happy with this contract,” said Gary Walkowicz, a committeeman at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn and one of the leaders of opposition to the contract.
“I think many people who voted ‘Yes’ felt they had no choice after they were threatened by the union leadership with strikebreakers and a worse contract if it was voted down,” Walkowicz said. “There were also hundreds of us Ford workers who were ready to fight against 2-tier wages and frozen wages. That battle is not over,” he added.
Opponents of the contract had complained about the wide gap, roughly of more than $14 per hour between first and second tier wages. The gap was narrowed but not eliminated in the new contract, even though the wages of long-term workers remained frozen at $29 per hour in the new contract.
The issue of executive compensation also very nearly derailed the new agreement. Ford has made $14.2 billion in profits since the end of 2008. Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford each made $26.5 million in 2010, an amount that has drawn criticism from King and had become a rallying cry for discontent in Ford’s factories.
I’m glad the Ford workers ratified the contract. I think the margin of the vote sends a positive message, along with the vote at GM, that the UAW is a viable, flexible organization willing to work with the corporations it is affiliated with yet strong enough to advocate successfully for its membership. And as for the comments of Walkowicz, let’s remember he is just a committeeman, and only that. He is not one of the top dogs at his local. I wouldn’t place much credence in what he is saying; ten chances to one, the workers in his area won’t even elect him back to that position again, or if he is old enough, he’ll just retire. Sometimes the loudest are the ones that don’t have lasting appeal.
Back to the main subject, though. Good for Ford. and good for the UAW. Just figuring that the Chrysler workers will ratify, now the real deal: the imports. This ought to be interesting, but at least the UAW didn’t shoot itself in the foot in its dealings with the D3.